By AMIE ROSE
Provo City officials do not expect any flooding in Provo this year, mostly because of optimal spring weather conditions.
The weather this spring has been as good as possible for avoiding a spring flood. Provo has had a warm and dry March and April. These conditions made the snow in the mountains east of Provo melt gradually, according to Greg Beckstrom, Provo storm water engineer.
“Temperatures in the 80s are ideal,” said Bill Alder, meteorologist-in-charge at the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City.
“The worst thing that could happen is for cold temperatures and a heavy rainstorm to come in when the streams are rockin’ and rollin’ like they are now,” Alder said.
But the worst isn’t in the forecast. Temperatures may climb even higher by Thursday, which will continue the snow melting trend, the snowpack is still high at 125 percent above normal, Alder said.
Current runoff conditions are above normal, with Utah Lake about 1.5 feet above compromise, meaning the water level is 1.5 feet above the normal elevation of the lake. Officials expect it to peak around two or three feet above compromise.
“The Provo River is running well within capacity,” Beckstrom said. “It’s current speed is 400 cubic feet per second. The water out of Rock Canyon is running at 25 cubic feet per second and Slate Canyon at 10 cubic feet per second. There will be no flood in Provo this spring,” he said.
The flow out of Little Rock Canyon has peaked and Provo River is expected to peak in two or three weeks, at an expected 1,000 cubic feet per second. Even if it gets up to 1,200 cubic feet per second, it will still be only half of what it was in 1983, Beckstrom said.
Though Provo City does not expect a flood, they are prepared for one. “We have pre-filled 1,000 sandbags. But to date, very few have been distributed,” Beckstrom said.
